


Post Mortem

by Mimozka



Series: Arrow Season 4 Stories [16]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Family, Gen, Grief, Loss, missing moment, post 4x18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 20:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6485560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimozka/pseuds/Mimozka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Laurel's death and how the team handles it, through the eyes of Felicity.</p>
<p>Spoilers for 4x18</p>
            </blockquote>





	Post Mortem

It goes unsaid between John and Felicity - they decide on it somewhere between her sobbing in his arms and then pulling away when the medical team asking them to clear the room. All it takes is one look between the two of them and one look at the Queen siblings, huddled together on the other side of the room.

They won’t be left alone tonight. They won’t be left alone until either Felicity or John are satisfied that they will be okay. Under normal circumstances Felicity would have gladly volunteered to care for both of them. She wants to. Even after everything that went down between her and Oliver, she wants to help him still. To comfort him, to be there for him, to remind him of his strength.

She holds back on that desire, though. High strung emotions and grief were never a good time to be around your very complicated ex. Your very complicated _everything_. She can’t be with him, but she can make sure that he won’t be alone. That the debacle of his mother’s death will not repeat itself.

So she turns to the only other person whom she trusts to care for Oliver as she would. She turns to her brother for help and he answers her call, just like she knew he would. It’s going to be a tough time for all of them, she knows, but they’ll get through it together. That’s what family does.

John would take Oliver home and Felicity would take Thea wherever she felt like going - be it Felicity’s place or her own.

In the couple of steps it takes her to cross the room Felicity thinks of Sara and how they have no way of reaching her. No way of knowing when in time she was. She thinks of her friend and remembers how much Sara loved and admired her big sister. Her heart clenches at the thought of the immeasurable pain Sara will be in when she finds out. Her heart breaks when she realizes she won’t be able to be there for her.

She thinks of Quentin and all the losses he has suffered. All the times he’s lost a daughter and all the times he was denied a goodbye. It’s unfair. She knows that despite the ups and downs he loves his daughters more than anything. She thinks of his poor health, the precarious condition of his heart and for the first time in a long time she prays. She prays for Quentin to pull through. 

Both her and John wrap their arms around Thea and Oliver and they stand huddled together in the hallway. Silent. She can feel the downright painful grasp Oliver has on her hand, but she doesn’t have it in her to tell him to ease up. It’s the only way she can be there for him right now, so she bears with it.

Thea turns into her at some point and Felicity lets go of Oliver to embrace her and envelop her in her arms. She wants to say something to Thea, to comfort her or to offer her some words of wisdom or whatever it is you’re supposed to do in such situations, but she can’t.

The girl has just lost her older sister and a life-long friend. There is absolutely nothing Felicity can do or say to make that hurt any less than it is.

She doesn’t see her mother approach, but is only alerted to her presence when Donna caresses the back of her head. Felicity twists her neck to get a look at her mother. Donna looks tired and drained. Much like Felicity feels.

“He’s alive,” Donna says quietly “He’s stable for now, but the doctor gave him a sedative to prevent more damage.” 

Neither of the team reacts to the news of Quentin’s stable condition. They had been told not too long ago that Laurel was stable, too, and look how that ended.

Thea disentangles herself from Felicity’s arms enough to pull Donna into their embrace as time becomes irrelevant.

Eventually they make it into Felicity’s place and Felicity forces herself, and Thea to eat a few bites of her left over Chinese food. After that she takes her to her bedroom and gives her some pajamas to change into. 

She tucks Thea in a sits on the other side of the double bed, leaning her head against the headboard. The tv is on even though it emits no sound. Felicity puts on Discovery and just stares mindlessly at the screen while occasionally glancing to check on Thea. She can’t sleep - the horrible scene of Laurel’s convulsing body won’t leave her mind.

She feels incredibly guilty for Laurel’s fate. Even though she’s had no direct hand in it, Felicity feels that by taking herself out of the team she has somehow put all their lives in jeopardy. Maybe if she’s been there to watch over them as she used to she would have seen something, anything, that would have helped prevent this. Maybe if she could have found it in her to be around Oliver despite everything this wouldn’t have happened. 

Maybe… Maybe… Maybe…

One of her hands is clutching her phone in her hand, half expecting Donna or John’s call to tell her something else went wrong, and the other hand is placed protectively over Thea’s duvet-covered hip.

She knows that she won’t ever be able to replace what Laurel meant to Thea, and she doesn’t want to, but she hopes that maybe Thea would find it in her to let them be friends, family even (albeit not in the legal way). Either way she will be there for her just as Thea has been there for Felicity in the past.

Her phone vibrates at some point during the night and she gets up to head for the bathroom before she answers the call.

It’s John. Calling to tell her that Oliver is sleeping, finally sleeping. By the slur in John’s voice she deduces that alcohol was involved in that achievement. Probably a lot of it, too, since Oliver was not a light weight. 

She asks John how he is doing, because in light of everything that’s happened, his own personal tragedy was put on the back burner. He huffs in that annoying big-brotherly way of his and thanks her for asking, saying they’ll have time to talk about that later. Later meaning after Laurel is laid to rest.

Before they hang up, she reminds him to leave the light on in the living room, where Oliver is no doubt laying on the couch that’s too short and narrow for his build. She reminds him to put on a photo of them all together on the coffee table, to help reassure Oliver that whatever horrors were plaguing him were nothing more than a nightmare. That he’s home and not back on that island. 

She turns off the tv when she goes back into her bedroom and huddles next to Thea behind the covers, dreading the days to come.


End file.
